The Hunchdog of Notre Dame
The Hunchdog of Notre Dame is the 14th ''Wishbone'' episode. It was aired on October 26, 1995. In this episode, the boys become jealous when Samantha befriends and helps an awkward boy named Nathaniel Bobelesky. Plot The episode opens at the basketball court of Sequoia Elementary School, now fashioned into a rollerblade hockey arena. Wishbone sits on the bench, desperately wanting to play the game, while his owner Joe and his friends David and Sam play a practice round against Damont and his team. Wishbone then wonders why humans are so fascinated with wheels. He thinks that people use wheels because they can only make do with 2 feet, unlike Wishbone, who has 4. As Sam rolls into the offside, Wishbone gets up and moves out of the way. The practice round ends, and Damont decides to choose sides and play for real. As Damont picks Colby and Joe picks Sarah, one kid is left standing without a team: Nathaniel Bobelesky. Despite being short a player, Damont refuses to take him because Nathaniel is evidently clumsy at skating. Sam decides to sit out so that Nathaniel join, but Joe doesn't want her to as she's part of the core team. In the end, Nathaniel, who doesn't want to start any problems, offers to sit out, but loses his balance and falls. Damont's team laughs at him with no sympathy. As Wishbone looks on with sympathy at Nathaniel, he is reminded of Quasimodo, the lonely, deaf, hunchbacked bell-ringer from the novel ''The Hunchback of Notre Dame'', a novel written by Victor Hugo. In 1482 Paris, France, Quasimodo stares down at the town square. Having spent his whole life up in a tower with no friends, he decides that he cannot spend his entire life in a tower. Below him, the townsfolk are celebrating the Day of Kings and the Feast of Fools, a time for plays, performances, and signing, but the best thing was the crowning of the Prince of Fools. It is revealed that Quasimodo is the Prince of Fools, with him saying that this wasn't exactly what he was talking about. Eventually, the crowd realizes that the Prince of Fools is just Quasimodo, and immediately turns on him. Amongst the jeers, Quasimodo sees a beautiful gypsy dancer named Esmeralda entertaining the crowd by dancing. Dom Claude Frollo emerges from the crowd to see Esmeralda dance. When Esmeralda looks at Quasimodo, she stops, becomes fearful, and leaves. Frollo, as it turns out, is actually Quasimodo's master, having raised Quasimodo after he was left behind on the steps of the cathedral as an orphan child, and taught him everything that he knows. Frollo furiously takes Quasimodo's hat off, ties a rope around his neck, and takes him away. That night, they enter a tavern where Esmeralda is dancing. As they sit at a table, Frollo gazes upon Esmeralda, and after describing how beautiful she is, declares that he must have her. Frollo demands Quasimodo to bring her over to the table. Quasimodo is at first reluctant, but agrees after Frollo threatens him. When Esmerelda walks down an alleyway, Quasimodo follows her with a coin, that she had forgotten, in his mouth. He tells Esmerelda about Frollo, but Esmeralda says that she must be going. As Quasimodo tries to explain, Frollo appears, making her faint. He runs off, leaving Quasimodo at Esmeralda's body. As Quasimodo tries to resuscitate her, two policemen arrive and arrest him. Back in the present, Damont tells Wishbone, who was sleeping, to get off his towel. Wishbone does so, and Damont wipes his face with it. , after being publicly humiliated by Damont]] The hockey game commences, with Nathaniel's clumsiness being a hindrance to Joe's team; he collides with Joe, and tries to get up and falls back down again. Eventually, this comes to a head when Damont rapidly spins around Nathaniel, making him dizzy enough to fall back down again, publicly humiliating him. As Damont's team laughs unsympathetically at Nathaniel, Sam arrives and helps him up. Back in the story, Quasimodo, who had been accused of trying to kidnap Esmeralda, is chained to a wheel that rotates, with a crowd full of angry, jeering people. Quasimodo, who is parched, asks for water, only to receive further mockery. A sympathetic Esmeralda emerges with a jug full of water and lets Quasimodo drink. Back in the present, Sam and Nathaniel prepare to leave, and Joe asks Sam where she's going. Sam replies that she's going to teach Nathaniel how to skate properly, sparking reactions from Joe, Wishbone, Nathaniel himself, and Damont. Sam tells them that he just needs some lessons and practice. Nathaniel agrees, and the two leave. Damont skates over to Joe and David, and mockingly says "Well, this is an interesting development now, is it?" At Joe's house, Wishbone, Joe, and David are all bored because they haven't seen Sam in 6 days (or according to Wishbone, 6 1/2 days), as she hasn't returned from teaching Nathaniel how to skate properly. Joe's mom Ellen suggests that maybe Nathaniel is Sam's new boyfriend. David denies this, but Joe isn't so sure, as Sam's never acted like this before. Wishbone walks off to find Sam and Nathaniel, and finds both of them walking into Sam's house. ]] As Wishbone follows them into the house, Nathaniel says that he doesn't think that he'll get better at hockey, as he falls down every time he skates. He also says that he really wants to break the ice with his teammates. Sam assures him that he will. As Sam goes to get Nathaniel some water, Nathaniel looks at a picture of Sam's father. He thinks that it must be nice to have a father to teach Sam how to skate or play basketball. Nathaniel's parents split up when he was 7, and since then, he has been raised by his mom. Sam understands, as her parents divorced as well. She shows Nathaniel a glass unicorn that her parents gave her on her birthday; the last keepsake she has of her parents before they divorced. It reminds her of the great times they had together. Meanwhile, Wishbone notices Sam's skateboard, which he had tried to play with during the practice round at the beginning of the episode. Wishbone thinks that it might be interesting to ride the skateboard, so he rides the skateboard into the hallway, catching Sam's attention. In a rush, Nathaniel gets up, accidentally knocking the keepsake out of Sam's hand and into the air. As it sails towards the ground, Nathaniel jumps to the ground and catches it just in time. Wishbone remarks that he hasn't seen anything like that since Quasimodo rescued Esmeralda. Back in the story, Esmeralda is brought to the public gallows. In a final attempt to get her, Frollo attacks Esmeralda's boyfriend. Much like what he did with Quasimodo, Frollo frames Esmeralda for the crime, and she is sentenced to be executed by hanging. Frollo approaches Esmeralda, and announces that he did the crime, and can save Esmeralda, but only if she agrees to marry him. Esmeralda refuses, telling Frollo that he is an evil man, and to leave or else he will be denounced. Quasimodo watches from high above, wondering why he wasn't made of stone like the statues. He suddenly realizes that he is not a statue, and can save Esmeralda. He leaps from the bell tower onto the gallows and attacks the hangman. After this, he frees Esmeralda. Frollo tries to stop him, but Quasimodo denounces his master, and escapes with Esmeralda into the cathedral of Notre Dame with the crowd cheering in their favor. Quasimodo tells Esmeralda that she'll be safe in the cathedral. Back in the present, Sam congratulates Wishbone because if Wishbone never got on the skateboard, then they would have never realized Nathaniel's skill: catching. At the hockey game the next day, Joe and David are still morose over having not seen Sam in a week. As Damont approaches them, so does Wishbone. Joe wonders what Wishbone is so excited about just as Sam and Nathaniel walk in, dressed in hockey gear. Sam introduces Nathaniel as the new best hockey player, but Nathaniel is having second thoughts. As Sam reassures him, Joe and David pull her aside. Joe and David confront Sam about abandoning them for Nathaniel, and Sam explains to them that Nathaniel just needs a friend, and that Joe and David are still her best friends. Finally realizing this, Joe then asks if she and Nathaniel are boyfriend and girlfriend, to which she says no. Joe is still dubious about Nathaniel joining the team because of his inability, but Sam tells him "appearances can be deceiving". The game begins with Nathaniel stationed as goalie for Joe's team, still doubting his ability. When Damont makes a pass to Colby, who swings at the goal, Nathaniel closes his eyes, and then opens them to find that he caught the ball. As time passes, Nathaniel gets better at blocking the shots. The final shot comes in when Damont skates towards Nathaniel and tries to swing it in. Nathaniel catches the ball, surprising Damont so much that he falls down and almost slides into the goalpost; Joe's team wins the game. Joe and the others marvel at Nathaniel's ability, and Damont approaches Nathaniel threateningly, but calms down and respects Nathaniel's ability, and calls for him to be goalie for his team next game, but Sam says that Joe picked Nathaniel and Damont didn't, and David adds that a team that plays together stays together, so Nathaniel stays on Joe's team. Cast Oakdale Soccer as Wishbone (character) * Larry Brantley as the voice of Wishbone Mary Chris Wall as Ellen Talbot Joe's team Jordan Wall as Joe Talbot Christie Abbott as Sam Kepler Adam Springfield as David Barnes Justin Reese as Nathaniel Bobelesky Melissa Archer as Sarah Johnson Damont's Team Joe Duffield as Damont Jones unknown as Colby Hunchback of Notre Dame Soccer as Quasimodo * Larry Brantley as the voice of Quasimodo Sean Hennigan as Dom Claude Frollo Lanell Pena as Esmeralda Sonny Franks as Male reveler Jenny Pichanick as Femaler reveler Christopher Carlos as Policeman Tail-Ends Wishbone talks about visual effects in photography. In the execution scene, Victor Hugo describes the mob as "thousands of heads piled in heaps, something like the balls in a park of artillery". For filming, they cast about 20 extras, or actors used for background shots to make it look realistic. Caris Palm Turpin photgraphed the scenes in the courtyard in 8 different sections. This is called a "zone shot", meaning that each section of people was shot in their own zone. After filming, the different zone shots were combined into one big group. Trivia * This episode only shows the first part and last part of the Hunchback of Notre Dame. The large middle section that they left out is much more complicated, with dark destiny, social inequality, and religious angles. This would have been much darker for a kids TV show, so they stuck with the lesson of understanding and acceptances. ** Much like Disney's 1996 version, Quasimodo and Esmeralda both survive at the end. * The statue shown on the Cathedral of Notre Dame is that of the bloodhound from Episode 8, with stone wings attached. * Joe's hockey team use Franklin Street hockey sticks. * In this episode, Damont wears a black Mylec helmet with chinstraps, and black Mylec gloves. * Nathaniel wears red Cooper hockey blockers. * Damont's hockey team use Easton Aluminum hockey sticks. * One of Damont's teammates, Colby, wears black Cooper hockey gloves, and the other 2 wear black Mylec gloves. Category:Episodes Category:Season 1 episodes